Reduction

“Although I never imagined that material wealth alone could ever overcome suffering, still, looking towards the developed world from Tibet — a country then as now very poor in this respect — I must admit that I thought it would go further towards doing so than is the case. I expected that, with physical suffering much reduced, as it is for the majority living in the industrially developed countries, happiness would be much easier to achieve than for those living under more severe conditions.

Instead, the extraordinary advancements in science and technology seem to have achieved little more than linear, numerical improvement. In many cases, progress has meant hardly anything more than greater numbers of opulent houses in more cities, with more cars driving between them. Certainly there has been a reduction in some types of suffering, including certain illnesses. But there has been no overall reduction.”